It's odd...
originally purposed for an exclusive add-on for the dreamcast port of Half-Life 1, Blue Shift was later repurposed for DLC for Half-Life. Releasing in 2001, two years after the first expansion, Opposing Force.
Blue Shift is the shortest of the Black Mesa stories, taking a whopping 3 hours. Though it could take less than that, It only took me that long because I suck at FPS' and the final puzzle took me longer than I had hoped. That being said, it's short.
In some ways, it's a meaningful add-on to the world of Half-Life. The intro portion helps sell Black Mesa as a real location. With things like basketball courts, food courts, a shooting range. It revisits what the Black Mesa disaster means and how tragic of an event it is. How you see Gordon casually twice. I always appreciate when entertainment shows us the movements of the heroes from the outsider observing them. It paints them as human because, despite his feats, that's all he is. Gordon is just the right man in the wrong place.
On the other hand, it's very stagnant. The storyline of Blue Shift ends before the finale of Half-Life, whereas Opposing Force went on past the story, giving it a much more depthful approach to the game and new ideas. As extra content, Blue Shift plays it overly safe. It doesn't take any risks, it doesn't try to deviate from the first Half-Life in gameplay or overall experience in nearly any way. Coupled with the fact that the level design, despite being fine, is also forgettable.
Of course you don't need to shove a million new weapons in my face. Though something to feed that craving for something fresh would have been the move.
Something else I don't get, lore-wise, is why Barney is the face of this expansion. This goes along with another point I have is that the game is way too easy on medium difficulty. Lore-wise, I don't know if Barney is jacked the frick up or what, but he's able to mow down soldiers like it's nothing. Multiple groups of soldiers are just ready for you to tear apart. This guy is a security guard and frankly, I'd be wondering what he's doing as an 8-5/5 says and sometimes the weekend guard for Black Mesa. The game gives you a ton of gear at a ton of points. Even for a wasteful player such as myself, who often (accidentally) prefers placing bullets into the walls instead of their skulls, I found it overbearing. Now while healing is scarce, you're never too bad, multiple points had me low and doing fine, I just had to lock in. It just feels wrong to struggle so much as the guys who were trained in every muscle vs "Yeah I think I visited the range last week."
I know it's somewhat minute, but I want to bring it up. I think it would've been worth it to keep combat low, instead focusing on navigating quietly and facing small groups of enemies. Of course, that's just me.
Yes, you should play this, yes it's good. But it could be so much better. Especially when it was released after the great Opposing Force by two years. it was also somewhat buggy on my end; whenever my save was reloaded, it just kept firing until I pressed my mouse.
Anyways, it's a 6/10, it's aight, give it a look. Try playing it before Opposing Force, you may like it better that way, you can't go wrong with it though, it's still Half-Life, just Half-As-Good.
originally purposed for an exclusive add-on for the dreamcast port of Half-Life 1, Blue Shift was later repurposed for DLC for Half-Life. Releasing in 2001, two years after the first expansion, Opposing Force.
Blue Shift is the shortest of the Black Mesa stories, taking a whopping 3 hours. Though it could take less than that, It only took me that long because I suck at FPS' and the final puzzle took me longer than I had hoped. That being said, it's short.
In some ways, it's a meaningful add-on to the world of Half-Life. The intro portion helps sell Black Mesa as a real location. With things like basketball courts, food courts, a shooting range. It revisits what the Black Mesa disaster means and how tragic of an event it is. How you see Gordon casually twice. I always appreciate when entertainment shows us the movements of the heroes from the outsider observing them. It paints them as human because, despite his feats, that's all he is. Gordon is just the right man in the wrong place.
On the other hand, it's very stagnant. The storyline of Blue Shift ends before the finale of Half-Life, whereas Opposing Force went on past the story, giving it a much more depthful approach to the game and new ideas. As extra content, Blue Shift plays it overly safe. It doesn't take any risks, it doesn't try to deviate from the first Half-Life in gameplay or overall experience in nearly any way. Coupled with the fact that the level design, despite being fine, is also forgettable.
Of course you don't need to shove a million new weapons in my face. Though something to feed that craving for something fresh would have been the move.
Something else I don't get, lore-wise, is why Barney is the face of this expansion. This goes along with another point I have is that the game is way too easy on medium difficulty. Lore-wise, I don't know if Barney is jacked the frick up or what, but he's able to mow down soldiers like it's nothing. Multiple groups of soldiers are just ready for you to tear apart. This guy is a security guard and frankly, I'd be wondering what he's doing as an 8-5/5 says and sometimes the weekend guard for Black Mesa. The game gives you a ton of gear at a ton of points. Even for a wasteful player such as myself, who often (accidentally) prefers placing bullets into the walls instead of their skulls, I found it overbearing. Now while healing is scarce, you're never too bad, multiple points had me low and doing fine, I just had to lock in. It just feels wrong to struggle so much as the guys who were trained in every muscle vs "Yeah I think I visited the range last week."
I know it's somewhat minute, but I want to bring it up. I think it would've been worth it to keep combat low, instead focusing on navigating quietly and facing small groups of enemies. Of course, that's just me.
Yes, you should play this, yes it's good. But it could be so much better. Especially when it was released after the great Opposing Force by two years. it was also somewhat buggy on my end; whenever my save was reloaded, it just kept firing until I pressed my mouse.
Anyways, it's a 6/10, it's aight, give it a look. Try playing it before Opposing Force, you may like it better that way, you can't go wrong with it though, it's still Half-Life, just Half-As-Good.